Today’s Track of The Week finalists have been narrowed down from a shortlist of several thousand. We hope you enjoy listening to these as much as we enjoyed selecting them.
Pilgrim – The Paladin
Much doom metal excitement as the good men of Pilgrim (Bradoc the Barbarian, The Wizard, and Krolg, Slayer of Men) release a video featuring a castle in the clouds, a sinister knight, many frightening creatures clearly not of this earth, and a set of riffs so laden with evil it’s possible YouTube itself may descend into Hades.
Avantasia - Mystery Of A Blood Red Rose
“It’s Meat Loaf!” squealed one member of the Classic Rock staff when presented with Mystery Of A Blood Read Rose, and indeed there are similarities, for MOABRR is an epic of serious scale, with piano foreplay leading directly to orchestral climax in a distinctly Steinman-esque way.
Wheel In The Sky – Jezebel
It’s always good to feature some psych-tinged man-with-a-bird’s-head shenanigans, and this is today’s overdose. It’s kinda like U2’s Desire versus The Rolling Stones at their most malevolent versus something so obscure and perverse it hasn’t hasn’t even come to our attention yet.
Ricky Warwick & The Fighting Hearts - The Road To Damascus Street
Pitched somewhere between his own Black Star Riders/Thin Lizzy axis and Swervedriver, the excellent Damascus Street is named, we presume, after the Holyland area of Belfast, which is home not only to Damascus Street, but to Jerusalem Street, Palestine Street and Cairo Street. We know that because we looked it up on Wikipedia.
Halestorm - What Sober Couldn’t Say
Lzzy and the boys continue to pull musical rabbits out of their hard-rocking hat, and the latest bunny is an acoustic version of a song in which our heroine delivers her most soothing Stevie Nicks impression before zooming off in the direction of the stars. Unspectacularly spectacular.
Brian Fallon - A Wonderful Life
Gaslight Anthem singer Brian Fallon hoists the mainsail on his debut solo adventure, and what a trip it promises to be. Album Painkillers (produced by the extremely able Butch Walker) will be out in March, and will be swiftly followed by a UK tour, and if you’re fond of Fallon’s particular take on heartland Americana, we severely advise you to attend.
Mitch Malloy with Van Halen - It’s The Right Time
In 1996 Mitch Malloy auditioned for Van Halen. He was given an instrumental by Eddie VH, turned it into a song, and has rescued it from his attic 20 years later. “I decided that with the challenging times the world is having “It’s the Right Time” to share that uplifting song,” he says, rather cleverly.
Colour Of Noise - Can’t Take It With You
If you ever wonder what happened to Bruce Dickinson (no, not that one, but the one from Little Angels and b.l.o.w), here’s your answer. Colour Of Noise describe themselves as “steeped in the spirit of the late 60’s British Blues Boom and early 70’s Stadium Rock”, and claim that, “There are no ballads on a Colour of Noise album.” Which means, however much you might enjoy them elsewhere, they’re not a great accompaniment for snogging.
